


'cause im only human

by HaloRocks1214



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Hybrids, Injury, Insecurity, MUTANT SMP FIC TIME, Minecraft-Typical Violence but described as if real humans were doing it, Mutants, No Beta We Die Like Wilbur in Skyblockle, Platonic Affection, Rescue, TommyInnit Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Violence, me who absolutely had a choice: well i guess i have NO CHOICE then, not really family dynamics this time but its vague enough to be seen as it anyway lmao, one mention of vomit near the end, the smp: haha what a funny harmless mod where we all hang out :), tumblr immediately: -creates angst out of it-
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-18 23:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29497689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaloRocks1214/pseuds/HaloRocks1214
Summary: "Jack of all trades, master of none, though oftentimes better than a master of one."Or also: 6+1 Fic where TommyInnit says Fuck You, but also not because he loves his friends and they love him back
Relationships: Jack Manifold & TommyInnit, Jschlatt & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Niki | Nihachu & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, TommyInnit & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit
Comments: 29
Kudos: 598
Collections: Cheshire's MCYT recs!, Found family to make me feel something, MCYT Fic Rec





	'cause im only human

**Author's Note:**

> [fic idea was roughly based off this](https://emo-and-confused.tumblr.com/post/642871016905916416/so-idea)
> 
> also this isnt really as elaborated on in the fic like i originally planned to do but here's how i [imagined how tommy looked](https://fishhberries.tumblr.com/post/642934760219492352/i-just-think-theyre-neat-id-pictures-of)

1.

Wilbur knew he shouldn’t have, he _knew_ he shouldn’t have, but he was tired and hungry with a lack of food, and his feet hurt from the constant walking so who could blame him for wanting to just take a rest in the cave he was in, huh? Sure he could go non-corporeal sometimes but he still was physical a lot more than that, and maybe he had been down here during the night for a while but he would be very brief in sitting and leaning against the cool rock wall to close his eyes for just a second-

Shooting up and gasping, Wilbur frantically looked around to see that he kept his eyes closed _much_ longer than just a second. Scrambling and running to the entrance of the cave, he took all of one step outside before hissing and stepping back in, forlornly looking out into the bright field with absolutely zero trees.

Stellar.

His stomach growled very aggressively, reminding him of his even more idiotic move of forgetting to grab extra food before going on this few-day-long mining expedition. He wasn’t starving just yet, thank Gods, but he definitely didn’t have enough to go phantom and make it to safe shade. If he remembered correctly, the reason he left when the night first started was _because_ this cave had no shade around it for a good few miles.

He really didn’t have a right to groan in annoyance, but that didn’t stop him from doing just that and lightly bonking his head against the wall next to him. He basically had no choice but to sit as still as possible and hope he didn’t starve to death. He guessed he could go back down and find some rotten flesh, but-

“ _Oh I’m just a poor harmless box who you definitely didn’t see taking a nap earlier, I swear I can’t go to the lavafall to get some lava, and what kind of friend would you be if you left your poor defenseless box bestie without lava-_ Tubbo I hope you know you’re a right bitch-”

Wilbur blinked at the voice that slowly got louder and louder from above him, and before he knew it, a back covered in fire-colored wings and feathers floated in front of him. _Tommy._

“Tommy, what are-” Wilbur started to ask before Tommy screamed in shock and fear, turning around and shoving the shield he had in front of himself as protection against the potential danger that snuck up on him.

After what felt like too long, Tommy brought the shield down slightly to look over it to see Wilbur standing in an indent on the side of the mountain. Blinking a few times in embarrassment, Tommy blushed as he quickly unruffled his feathers, “H-Hey Wilbur,” he cleared his throat, bringing a fist up in front of his mouth while he did so now that he wasn’t using both to grasp the shield for dear life. “‘ow do?”

Wilbur would be lying if he said that he tried holding back the grin that spread over his face, “Nothing much, Toms, just stuck in this cave for the foreseeable future.”

Tommy blinked again, less in embarrassment and more in confusion, “Huh, why?”

Wilbur leaned his shoulder against the wall he hit his head on earlier and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “Yeah, well, you have eyes. You can see the sun too. But I also can’t phantom for long enough to get back home since my dumbass forgot to grab more to eat before coming out here.”

Tommy blinked and started blushing again, and before Wilbur could wonder why, an amazing idea hit him, “Hey, now that you’re here can I borrow some food? I promise to pay you back… Toms?”

Tommy twisted his heel, digging it into the ground nervously, “Heh, about that, I was heading back home myself to get more food as well… since I forgot to restock… as well…”

Silence.

Wilbur hoped these repeated bonks don’t give him brain damage. Regardless, his words were mainly sarcastic. He was more impressed that they both did the same fuck-up above anything else, “Man, where did I go wrong in raising you? Must have been Phil rubbing off on me after everything. Doesn’t surprise me.”

Tommy got weirdly defensive at that, “Hey, you guys did great! It’s not your fau- oh, hang on, you just need shade, right?”

Wilbur blinked, but before his brain registered that first part, it went on to answer Tommy’s question, “I mean, basically. If there were just a few trees here and there I would have been fine.”

Tommy nodded excitedly, and then Wilbur proceeded to watch as the blond grabbed his shield with both hands again, this time sliding it off his arm and holding it above his head, shrouding himself in semi-darkness, “All aboard?”

Wilbur couldn’t help the step back he took as Tommy raised the shield as high as he could and placed the end of it against the rocky wall above him so there was no chance of sunlight peeking through and hurting Wilbur as he made his way under. It took a second, and a Tommy proclamation of _“I don’t got all day, bro!”_ before Wilbur quickly made his way under the shield.

It was… working. It was working very well. Wilbur felt a hand go up to grab the handle of the shield to steady it over mostly himself and his other hand fist the back of what was there of Tommy’s shirt. It was working _extremely_ well.

Tommy nodded once before looking away, leaving Wilbur with the sight of a toothy grin on his face as the last thing the brunette saw. Tommy took a quick breath in, then released it just as fast, “Alright, considering we’re both on the verge of starving, we’re going to take it slow. We also don’t want to go too fast and have you fall out of your protection.”

Wilbur swallowed the spit that formed in his mouth and nodded back despite the younger not looking at him. He trusted Tommy to get him home properly, he did, he was just worried about literally everything else that could stop or hurt them.

“Let’s count the steps together, shall we?” Tommy asked with the equivalent tone of voice that sounded like he had a skip in his step. “One. Two. Three. Four. One. Two…”

Tommy was right about it being very slow going, but Wilbur followed his instructions to a T, placing his right foot forward on every odd number and his left on every even. They were almost like a weird bouncing bug the whole way home, and it was pure luck nothing else decided to bother them.

They made it back right at sunset, Tommy on three-and-a-half hunger with Wilbur at a whopping singular half. As soon as the door to their shared house was in sight, Wilbur rushed in as fast as he could. He would have literally ran, but seeing as he couldn’t, he accepted just feeling like he did instead.

He made his way to their cooling-system and opened the trunk, pulling out a steak and collapsing his back against the side of it while happily munching away. You would think it was a 5-Star Gourmet Meal, not a stockpiled leftover Phil prepared to last a long time with the way Wilbur was about to pass out from how good it was.

Tommy, meanwhile, went to the basket on the opposite side to grab plenty more bread, eating about three loaves right then and there before shoving plenty more in his rucksack. His words were muffled as he finished chewing, “Welp gotta get this lava to Tubbo before he comes and hunts me down. Enjoy your steak, Wilbur! Hopefully, it’s as good as everyone says it is!”

Wilbur was still lost in the euphoria of no longer starving to death when he realized Tommy was leaving. Before he could swallow and speak to Tommy directly, the blond was out the door so quick it didn’t shut properly, leaving it slightly ajar. 

Wilbur should probably get up and fix that, but instead, he blinked, unsure of how to process the previous events, “Thank… you.”

2.

Niki probably could have waited and nothing would have changed, but the bees seemed to be the busiest they had been in a while and she was worried she would miss her shot.

The beehive wasn’t even that far out of the water. She could very easily slither out, hold her breath, bottle up about two or three bottles like she needed, and slither back as if nothing had changed. Besides, it’s dumb that for every little thing she wanted to do out of the water she had to wait for someone to do it for her.

Not that she was ungrateful for their help or anything, she’d probably be dead in certain scenarios if they didn’t, and it’s not like she doesn’t return the favor for Ranboo and Jack especially, but if how they feel about not being able to go in the water is even a fraction of the frustration she feels about essentially drowning on land no matter what, by Gods does she feel for them.

She currently had the upper half of her body perched up on the sandy shore staring at the aforementioned beehive. Roughly about five or six bees were swarming it, pollen covering just about everything they touched. She tapped her fingers in a rolling motion, her other hand on her cheek holding her head up. She had been sitting here for a few minutes at least.

Closing her eyes and sighing, she figured she had wasted so much time mulling over the issue that she might as well just go and do it. Swimming back down to her base to grab three bottles, she came back up and stopped right before she breached the surface. Taking a deep breath for good luck, she exhaled then took an even bigger one and jumped out, her tail making a muffled wet slap against the sand.

She was quick in her movements to the hive, getting over there in record time. The bees happily buzzed around her as she went to work pouring honey into her containers of choice. Halfway through the second one she even started to grin through holding her breath. See, it was going just fine. She didn’t need to let her lack of normal lungs get her down.

Right as she capped the third bottle and turned to head back underwater, she heard the familiar hiss of a creeper right behind her. Jumping and dropping the bottles (they didn’t seem all the important anymore), she managed to avoid getting burned by the blast, but the knockback was still fierce, sending her flying right into a nearby rock and cracking her head on it.

She laid there groaning for just a sec, the large amount of air she used to have completely gone with the only thoughts of hers being _suffocating is going to suck, I probably should have seen this coming,_ and _sorry everyone_ before the darkness overtook herself.

But she didn’t wake up in some otherworldly beyond. She didn’t get to see if the mysterious myth of respawning was true. The first sign that she got out of that situation alive was the fact that before opening her eyes, she _felt_ something (which would be very hard for something dead to do), as well as the fact that one of those feelings were the waves of the lake crashing against her, meaning she was back in there despite not reaching it herself. So, wait, was that all a nightmare then? How did she-

Ow ow ow, a lot of things hurt really really badly-

“Hey hey, shh, it’s gonna be alright, Niki,” a voice soothed her when she started to whine in pain. “Really lucky I can walk pretty fast, I’m not sure I would have made it in time otherwise.”

Cracking her eyes and groaning, she looked to see she was in one of the shallower parts of her lake, floating gently but still tethered down by the hands suddenly holding her head so she didn’t drift away somewhere random. Blinking the excess sun out of her eyes, she tried turning around to see who was touching her, “What-”

“Woah, hey, still not done,” the voice gently warned. Niki was forced back into a lying position facing away from the mysterious voice. Niki had no choice but to sit and stare out over the body of water as she heard the person pull something out from somewhere. She was in a daze, still confused as to how she lived through that when the voice finally said, “You just gotta drink this and it should feel as if nothing happened.”

Suddenly in her face was a regen potion. She was still slightly out of it, so she took the liquid without hesitation and started drinking it. She got through it pretty fast, so when she took it away from her mouth some of it dripped down her chin. Come to think of it, her head was already feeling kind of okay before this, and the regen potion was the icing on the cake. Whoever did the medic job was pretty good-

When she finally turned around, she looked up into the blue eyes of one familiar avian smiling at her. He used a hand to wipe the sweat off his brow, “Phew, that was a close one. You good to be left alone? Would you like me to wait until Wilbur gets back to be a replacement? He mentioned he was going to visit you today.”

Niki blinked once, feeling something off about that statement, “Um, no, I’m good for now.”

Tommy nodded, work clearly done, “Sounds good. Enjoy your honey!”

Niki finally found her words, realizing she had so many to say after all of, well, that, “Tommy! Wait-”

But he was already gone, back off to do whatever he was doing previously. Niki was left there to hold the empty potion bottle speechless before a random spot of brightness hit her vision, causing her to flinch and cover her eyes. Shaking it off, she looked up to see the cause of the glare.

Sitting on the ground a few feet away on the shoreline were six bottles of honey, each gently set down next to one another. Niki glanced over at the spot she was blasted at to see her original bottles broken and cracked. Tommy didn’t seem to be dripping wet like he swam down to her base to grab more, so he must have used his own.

Niki swam over and grabbed the batch softly as if the gift would shatter if she didn’t treat it with the utmost care. She rotated one of the bottles to examine it, the glint from the sun that previously hurt her eyes making the yellow honey glow even brighter.

What a wonderful turn of events.

When Wil came to say hi as Tommy said, Niki considered her conversation with the blond from earlier, wondering just how much of that was intentionally quick for her sake.

“Hey, Niki! Watch me cannonball while invisible!”

She’ll worry about it later tonight.

3.

“And you’re sure that’s when you’ll be done?” Jack asked the merling in front of him.

Niki nodded, a sort of sad posture to it, “Sorry, Jack, but the project I’m working on needs to be completed immediately unless I just want to start over. You could go find Tubbo or Wil or even Phil. They might not be experts of swimming or being underwater but they can still help.”

Jack blew out a puff of air while rubbing the back of his neck, “I would, but they’re all on some kind of journey together. Then there’s Ranboo, who, well, you know enough by now.”

Niki grimaced, feeling bad for her enderian friend, “Yeah. Welp, be sure to be back here by tomorrow and I can get you all the sponges you require!” Niki waved Jack goodbye as the blazeborn waved back. Once she was completely submerged, he sighed before walking to find the nearest nether portal to get back to his main base.

He was starting to think about creating a house out in the Overworld with a nether portal built in so he could spend more time with everyone. Being in the same dimension would help greatly with that. The only issue would be the whole ‘can’t touch water’ thing, which he planned to rectify by building a sponge contraption that could clear out the water regularly.

It would also just be nice to have sponges on hand since, you know, he couldn’t touch water whatsoever, and maybe a wet sponge would sting him but it wouldn’t be the all-consuming hellfire that was direct water (which, _hellfire,_ isn’t he just the best comedian). Alas, he can’t go down to an ocean monument himself anytime soon, so his best bet was to come back to Niki like she said to do. The trio he planned to ask if Niki was busy wouldn’t be back until even later anyway.

He slept that night just fine if a little disgruntled at his powers. He liked them, but they could be a real fucking nuisance.

The next day making his way out of the portal, it was very hard for him not to jump at the dripping wet Tommy there to greet him. In fact, it was so hard that Jack not only jumped but let out a shriek as well. He placed a hand on his chest after taking a few calming deep breaths before looking at Tommy with a grin, “Hey, Toms. How’s it going?”

Tommy was bouncing excitedly up and down on his feet, hiding his arms behind his back, “Oh you know, getting you to be indebted to me for the rest of your natural life span, normal things.”

Jack blinked at that. Not knowing when Tommy was serious could easily be a death sentence, “Uh, sure? Can I ask how?”

Tommy giggled, and before anything else could happen, the boy’s arms were finally out in front of him holding a pile of… yellow? “Ta-da!”

Examining the items closer, Jack finally figured out what Tommy could get that made Jack ‘indebted’ to him: a nice collection of sponges rested in the avian’s hands.

Careful not to touch the wet skin of his friend, Jack collected the sponges from Tommy and- oh wow, there were a lot more in here than he was going to ask Niki to collect. It was an entire stack, even, “Wow, thank you, Tommy. Seriously.” He looked up at Tommy with a genuine grin, which only made the blond blush and try his best to keep his feathers from fluffing up.

The boy cleared his throat and tried to play off the compliment, “Ehhh it’s nothing. Just heard you talking to Niki and decided to get a jump start. Let her know the work was done as well, so you don’t need to worry about that either!” Tommy valiantly laughed before placing his hands on his hips and staring deep into Jack’s soul, “I do need blaze rods though, so if you wanna just give me your left leg that would be perfect.”

Deep down Jack knew Tommy was joking, but the ‘seriousness’ in his expression could make anyone fear for their lives. Jack’s laughter was nervous, “Heh, sure thing Toms. Anything for one of the best helpers this world has.”

Tommy blushed yet again, but there was something darker behind it, “Well, hopefully not _too_ much. Hard to say how much I could help when all I got are these chicken flaps and veganism. But the sentiment is greatly appreciated, Slave!”

The tone turned depressing very quickly. Jack had to at least try and flip it back around, “Hey, I don’t know about that-”

“I’ll see you again soon, Jack!” Tommy yelled and waved goodbye, a considerable distance in between the two of them already. Gods was he always that fast- “Don’t forget to chop off that leg for me!”

Curse Tommy’s walking speed at the end of the day. The blazeborn watched Tommy completely leave his line of sight, unable to get any kind of last word in.

Swallowing nervously, Jack went to the spot that he wanted to build in the Overworld with a sense of unease. The way Tommy sort of, just, said something like that as if it was normal and how everyone else thought bothered him.

He would need to talk to Tommy about it later. There was no way he was catching up to him at this point, and it looked like it was going to rain later anyway.

Hopefully, Jack was just blowing things out of proportion.

4.

The really really thin edge of a cliff was not the best rain coverage choice, as it turned out.

Ranboo stood stock still as much as he could, all of his back against the mountain he currently braced himself on. His arms were splayed out at his sides, also flat against the smooth rocky surface. He would admit he was having a slight panic attack, but that would also make him panic worse, which was the last thing the situation needed.

See, knowing how water hurt him, he was smart. Smart to watch the weather, smart to predict when weather would be bad and whatnot, smart to avoid the substance most of the time. But smartness couldn’t make up for the Gods wanting to laugh at you for the day and sending a boom of thunder through the sky right before making it sprinkle.

Ranboo was smart, but he wasn’t smart enough to panic in a productive way, so at the first sight of the weather getting bad he booked it to the closest spot that had some kind of covering. Which was the tiny tiny thin ledge he was precariously standing on, stressing the lanky bones in his body to the max.

He couldn't even rest to properly aim an ender pearl. If he took just a second off focusing on staying balanced, he would definitely fall forward into the rain falling harder than before in front of him. He was basically stuck standing on a tightrope for the next who-knew-how-long until the rain let up.

He sighed, resigned to his own dumb, stupid fate, when he heard a very loud angel yell from atop the mountain above him, “FUCK YOU GODS. I DIDN’T EVEN BRING MY GOOD ARMOR FOR THIS SHIT.”

Yep, that was Tommy, who Ranboo even watched float down the side of the mountain in front of him, landing much more gracefully on the ground compared to his words. He would have expected Tommy and Phil to not be able to fly during bad weather but turns out they were given that small blessing at least. Ranboo made his words as loud as possible and could only pray Tommy heard him, “Tooooommyyyyyy heeeeeeeeeelllpp!”

It took a second, which was enough to make Ranboo start to panic even more, but eventually, the avian turned around to try and find the source of the shouting. Once he looked up, he blinked in shock, “OH. HEYAH RANBOO, HOW’S IT GOING UP THERE FOR YA?!”

Ranboo would ask Tommy for volume lessons later because despite the pouring rain he could hear Tommy perfectly. It had to have been a trained skill, no one could just be _that_ loud, “Not very good! I’m kinda stuck here until further notice!”

Ranboo could see Tommy tilt his head, “WHAT? HOW ARE YOU-”

Ranboo watched as his voice suddenly died off. The blond must have made some kind of revelation, the enderian thought, because he was suddenly pulling out blocks before looking back up at Ranboo, “WHY AREN’T YOU TELEPORTING?” he scream-asked.

Ranboo swallowed nervously, “Because I can’t let go of the wall in any way shape, or form! If I do I’ll fall into the rain!”

Ranboo didn’t even need to blink before he watched Tommy start to build up to him, “I FIGURED IT WAS SOMETHING LIKE THAT. HANG ON I’M ALMOST THere just gotta build a few blocks here and there and hm mm hm got it! New bridge and cover!”

It took a second to register for Ranboo, but once it did he realized why Tommy’s voice dropped down to a normal level. He had built up close enough to the enderian to not only build a platform in front of him but coverage as well. Taking a deep breath, Ranboo stepped out onto the helpful ground before letting out the biggest sigh and bending over in relief, hands on his knees and everything.

Tommy gazed over his friend in concern, but also just in general, “You good to go, Boob Man? I can build some more if you need it.”

“Yep, nope, I see some bushy trees I can hop to,” he glanced back up to give Tommy a genuine grin. “Thanks a ton, dude. I’m not sure I would have been able to hold on for much longer.”

Tommy put his blocks away and swiped his hands against each other to clear off any dirt and dust that was left on them, “Of course, least I could do after you talked to that Enderman a few days ago and barely convinced it not to rip me to shreds.”

Ranboo rolled his eyes, “Well, it would have been easier if you didn’t keep stalking it after every time I told it that you weren’t going to harm it.”

Tommy was quick to get away after that, floating back down as his words drifted off with increasing distance, “ _Well_ sorry I can’t do anything else! Maybe your enderbros need to learn not to be such bitc…”

Ranboo mulled over the first part of Tommy’s statement for a second, wondering if there was anything else there that needed to be tapped into before remembering that it was still raining. He wanted to go home, so he could figure it out there.

Aiming and tossing a pearl, Ranboo landed perfectly underneath the tree he wanted to be under and sighed one last time. He looked back at the weird misshapen dirt tower and bridge and cover now left to mark the mountain for a long time, the evidence of Tommy going out of his way to help Ranboo with the problem the enderian got himself into.

_Can’t do anything else…_

Weird. Ranboo threw another pearl and continued home.

5.

Tubbo was aware that not taking his daily nap before going out would be a risk, but he wanted more time to collect items than he normally did. Besides, he got a little extra time during his nap yesterday, maybe he would be a little more exhausted but surely he wouldn’t collapse or anything.

Surely not.

Ducking under Zombie Number 7’s swipe, Tubbo fought back the urge to yawn dramatically and instead swung his sword in return, nailing the undead creature right in the throat. Breathing heavily and gripping the handle of his sword in both hands, white-knuckling the weapon even, Tubbo looked around at the five more zombies that surrounded him.

He brought one of his wrists to wipe away the spit trailing down his chin, glaring at his adversaries. Part of the anger was at himself for not taking that fucking nap because he was pretty sure if he did he wouldn’t be struggling like he was. Dealing with ten plus zombies would still be a challenge, but at least he wouldn’t be so lethargic and slow on the uptake-

One of the zombies swiped him in the back, causing him to yell out a scream in pain, followed by him making a rapid attempt at hitting it without looking. Tubbo managed to land a hit directly in the side of its head, but a new zombie behind him again tried grabbing his shoulder. Practically shrieking, Tubbo ripped away from the mob and started booking it in a direction that had the least amount in the hoard bunched together.

He made it all of maybe 20 feet before tripping and collapsing like he told himself he wouldn’t.

The hard ground felt softer than normal. Tubbo found himself turning around to be sitting on his ass to look at what was left of the hoard still chasing after him. He tried, oh he tried, but he used his arms and pushed for all of one second to try and stand before falling back down onto his butt and letting out an aggressive sigh. He was exhausted, he used the little energy he had in trying to fight them off instead of just running immediately, and by the time he stood up, they would be on him again.

The undead groans got louder and louder and all the teen could do in response was curl his arms around himself, his armored skin hopefully making whatever was about to happen less painful. Cold hands started grabbing and reaching for him.

He was so ready to accept his dumb fate that he missed a newcomer’s voice yelling, “TUBBOOOOOOOO!”

The zombies all stopped focusing on him for a brief second, and the last thing he was aware of before blacking out was the noises of them dying. Was it daytime? How else could they be dying so rapidly?

The next thing the shulk was aware of was something comfy and soft underneath him, as well a warm blanket on top of him. Blinking fatigue out of his eyes, he sat up and rubbed them before realizing _holy shit, I’m not dead,_ and _but where am I?_

“Wilbur says putting me near a stove has the potential to blow up the world but look at me _now_ I made an entire bowl of soup and only burned one towel-” Tubbo looked at the doorway to the room he was in to hear a voice get closer and closer. It wasn’t long before Tommy stepped into the room with a bowl holding something warm in it. Steam was even radiating off of it. Tommy noticed Tubbo was awake, “Big Man! Good to see you alive! I bet you’re starving, so I did my best to make this. It’s not intentionally poisoned, but sorry if it still sucks anyway.”

Tubbo blinked but still took the soup anyway, blowing on the spoon to cool it down before taking a bite, “Mmmmm wow! This is actually really good, Tommy!”

Tommy smiled as he watched Tubbo wolf down the rest of the soup, “Aw, thanks, dude. Glad to hear my efforts paid off.”

Tubbo was done pretty quickly, wiping his chin off of any excess spills he might have made while rapidly eating. As soon as Tommy grabbed the dirty dishes, Tubbo threw off the blanket to join him in the kitchen, hopping up on the counter to sit at the same height as Tommy stood, “‘Efforts paid off’ is one way of putting it. Seriously, you were the one that saved me, right?”

Tommy let out a huff of laughter, “Yeah, just barely. What happened back there?”

Tubbo rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, I didn’t take my afternoon nap like I usually do. I thought I would be okay since I got more sleep than normal the day and night before, but considering the ground I passed out on felt as comfortable as the bed I just woke up in I think I’m going to not avoid it anymore. Not even once.”

Tommy dried his hands off and went over to pat Tubbo on the head, which the brunette leaned into. Tommy smirked, “Sounds like a good plan to me. Seeing you surrounded by zombies is a sight that will be burned into the back of my eyelids for a long time.”

Tubbo grimaced, “Sorry, I really didn’t mean to-”

“Ey ey ey, slow your roll, bro,” Tommy soothed his best friend. “You made it out alive, which is good enough for me at the end of the day. Just make sure to not be in that position again. Not just for your safety, but your dignity. Pretty embarrassing that you had to be saved by me of all people. Anyways, glad to see you up and about, I should probably go drop these feathers off at Wil’s place. He’s been meaning to make some arrows.”

Tubbo might have been offended at those words if he didn’t feel that there was a deeper meaning behind them. He took so long to think about them that he almost missed the fact that Tommy was leaving. The older teen got outside when Tommy was a considerable distance away.

“Hey, Tommy! Wait!” Tubbo called out, chasing after the avian before he could leave.

Tommy turned around at the yell of his name, and before he could say anything he felt a hard and heavy object barrel into him, arms coming around to grasp him in the most bone-crushing hug he’s received in a while. He even let out an ‘oof’ in response before slowly bringing his arms around his friend as well, “Later this week let’s go trading. I think that village is in need of some emeralds.”

Tubbo excitedly nodded against his friend's chest before pulling away with the biggest grin on his face to mask the concern at the way Tommy seemed to not believe his sincerity just a little bit. Tubbo stood in his doorway as he waved Tommy goodbye one last time, blond hair disappearing over the horizon.

Once Tubbo was alone he sighed and got to work. He went to go grab some diamonds and a stick before going over to his craft area. He lost his sword while trying to run away from the hoard, so he should probably make a new one before he forgot. As he built away, he thought back to how Tommy thought everything he did was the bare minimum or least-expected of him.

Taking a deep breath, Tubbo went over to his bookshelf to pick out some of his favorite enchantments. 

He’d talk to Wil about it. The phantom would know what to do.

6.

Philza knew he was going to be taking a rougher landing than usual, so he wasn’t sure why he didn’t tether down his items more than he did.

Skidding his heels against the ground, he slowed down just enough that when he tripped and started tumbling, it wasn’t too aggressive. Oh, he still got scuffed up and dirty, but at least he didn’t break open any skin, just bruises and other sore spots.

What was cause for concern, however, was the small but deep hole that dropped down into total darkness that he almost went and accidentally threw himself into. He managed to stop right before it, perching himself on his hands and knees with his head directly over the abyss looking down, but because of the motion and leftover force, his newly enchanted diamond sword and pickaxe slipped from his belt and clanged all the way down instead.

It took so long to reach the bottom that Phil almost missed the final clangs they made when they finished. Grimacing and standing up, all Phil could do in response was tilt his head back to look up at the sky and plainly state, “Fuck.”

Looking back down with a sigh, he went to work on thinking about how to retrieve them. The entrance to the hole was small enough for his wings to be a problem on its own, but then there was the fact that he didn’t know how he would handle it down there in general. He always got fatigued and nauseous when mining for too long, and the time it took to feel awful was shorter the smaller the area was. Once he got past the whole ‘huge ass fucking wings’ debacle he had to worry how it would feel altogether.

Heading to the nearest tree to make new temporary tools, he heard the sound of maniacal giggling coming from somewhere. Weirdly enough, it didn’t put him on edge, but it did confuse him to hell and back. Where was its source, more importantly, _what_ was it?

Blinking a few times, he realized it was coming from above the trees and looked to notice a familiar blond, blue-eyed child floating down toward him. Ah, so he must have seen that entire ‘falling with style’ performance. Phil rolled his eyes, “Hello to you too, Tommy.”

Tommy landed on the tree Phil was planning to chop down. The avian proceeded to crouch down and place his hands flat on the branches and leaves in front of him in a sort of playful position, “Hahaha, old man forgot how to use his wiiiinggsss.” 

Phil placed his hands on his hips for a second, but ultimately went back to getting wood, “Uh-huh, sure thing, gremlin child.”

Tommy hopped off the tree to float down to stand behind Phil, placing his hands on his hips, almost mirroring Phil from just before, “Phiiiiil it’s perfectly okay to forget things at your age, it’s not your fault life likes fucking people over in the future just because it wants to take the piss out of you.”

Phil let out a chuckle at that, still mainly focused on the task at hand, “Yeah, well, if there’s anything I didn’t forget it’s how I just enchanted my sword and pick yesterday, and the fact that they proceeded to fall down _that_ hole you almost watched me crash into. So I really need to get them back unless I want to go through the trouble of XP collecting. Again.”

Very quick was the playful expression on Tommy’s face to drop off and morph into a more concerned one, “Don’t caves make you sick or something?”

Phil made a semi-disgusted face while placing down a crafting table, “Unfortunately, yeah, not to mention how small that entrance is. Not sure how I’m going to fit down it, but I’m sure as hell going to try. Probably will just expand it as I dig down. It shouldn’t take too long to grab them and climb back up so… Tommy?”

Phil turned around once he noticed the uncharacteristic lack of replies from Tommy. Once he saw where the boy went, he would be lying if he said it didn’t make him panic. Because right as he turned he watched as Tommy jumped into the hole all by himself to start gently floating down it.

“Tommy!” Phil yelled out, pure horror on his face with him fighting the urge to run over to look down to make sure the kid wasn’t dead. That would be wasting time trying to find more important ways to get down there. That hole was _deep,_ and half the reason Phil wanted to be careful going down it was that there was no way to tell what was truly at the bottom. Did it simply end? Was there a cave system filled with mobs ready to attack? Fuck, was it just a straight pool of lava that ate his tools, and going down there would have been pointless anyway? Tommy would-

Don’t think that way. Gods, Phil needed to focus on preventing it anyway (which would probably be pointless since Tommy wasn’t going to die), so with an unusually fast speed, Phil gathered stone from the top of the hole to create a better pickaxe to use (the few seconds spent to make it would be worth the increased mining speed). Once the object was completed and safely in his grasp, Phil turned back to get to work, only to stop in his tracks in shock.

Tommy was standing on a pillar of random material smack dab in the middle of the hole, a familiar toothy grin on his face while holding even more familiar diamond tools, “Were _these_ what you were looking for?”

Phil would be embarrassed to admit he dropped the stone pick he was holding, so he didn’t admit that and instead walked forward to stand right in front of Tommy while the younger blond hopped off his tower and back onto solid ground, Phil’s tools proudly displayed in front of him. 

Phil slowly reached out and grabbed them, scared as if the action would make them disappear again, “Thank you, Tommy, but did you not think about what could have been down there? What if it was just lava waiting for you?”

Tommy scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Did you really think I couldn’t build something to catch me if there was?”

Phil was starting to realize he maybe overreacted, “O-Oh, fair enough.”

Tommy grinned again and put his hands behind his head with his elbows above it, “And besides, even if I couldn’t save myself, it would have been worth trying to save those tools in the end anyway. Those are some sick ass enchantments, I can totally see why you-”

Philza had almost taken a step back at that, “Woah, okay, let’s not go there. Tommy-” Phil grabbed the boy’s wrist gently before he could walk away, getting Tommy to look at him again with those big, wide, blue eyes, “Careful with those words, mate. Do you mean that?”

Tommy was slightly blushing, as if Phil caught him with his hand in the cookie jar, which the older man didn’t like at all, “Weeell what do _you_ mean by _that?_ ”

Phil chose his words very carefully, “Mate, as annoying as it would be to make new tools and enchant them again, going through the process is much better of an alternative than letting you- you die or something like that. Especially when tools are _replaceable_ at the end of the day.”

Tommy shrugged his shoulders, breaking his way out of Phil’s grip in the process, “Well, you’re not wrong. Relaaax Phil, it’s not like I’m going to turn around and _try_ to die anytime soon. I just think we all know which pair of wings are cooler in our little group. See you later!”

Phil was too stunned to try and stop Tommy after that, letting the boy walk away as if those words weren’t Entire World-shattering to hear.

Now Phil was left alone, wondering how long that had been festering in Toms, and just how much he had involvement in it, unintentional or not. Taking a deep breath, Phil spread his wings to start flying once more, mulling over that convo the entire time he was in the air. Phil reached home to see Wilbur, Tubbo, and Niki hanging out near the shore and decided to join them, “Hey you guys, how’s it hanging?”

Wilbur looked up once he was done laughing at what Niki said to register Phil’s question, “Oh, nothing much. Just talking about our recent tizzies with nature.”

Phil nodded as he sat down and crossed his legs, double-checking to make sure his tools stayed next to him and that he didn’t actually lose them, thinking about why he got them back in the first place, “Heh, boy do I have a few stories in that category as well. But first… has anything been off about Tommy recently to you?

+1.

Tommy knew when he fucked up. A lot of his life can be explained by the words ‘fuck’ and ‘up’.

He’d probably been down in this cave system for a few days at least, so that was absolutely zero sleep on his part. He’s down to one loaf of bread, two carrots, and half an apple. In a fit of desperation on the second day he tried eating the rotten flesh off some zombies he took down.

The pile of vomit in a now-abandoned corner abruptly told him to never, ever try it again.

Right now he was leaning against a wall, trembling from exhaustion and hunger. He finished off the apple and carrots, bringing him back up to a decent amount, and he could eat the bread to be completely filled, but he figured having half-full hunger for a longer period was better than being completely full only briefly.

God, why was he like this? Getting lost in a cave system of all things. That was a mistake you only made right at the beginning of your journey, not- not however long he’s been doing it with everyone. He can’t help but think about all their faces if they found him like this. Wilbur and Tubbo’s pity, Phil’s disappointment, Niki and Jack would probably be apathetic, and Tommy could count on Ranboo to be nice to him, but Ranboo was nice to everyone, so that was a moot point from the get-go.

A creeper started hissing nearby, and Tommy threw himself out of the way of the blast. Thankfully he got right behind something that protected him, but the volume of the noise still hurt. Sliding down with his back against the wall, Tommy couldn’t stop the small tears that formed in his eyes and trailed down his cheeks. He brought his hands up to his hair to grab it in his fists, sniffles echoing off the walls around him.

He heard other mobs nearby, probably interested by the creeper blast. If Tommy was correct, there were about two zombies and a skeleton alongside a spider that seemed really really close. The tippy-tap of the spider’s legs was much louder than how they should sound when being a reasonable distance away. In fact, it sounded like it was getting closer and closer, but all Tommy could do was curl up more in the hopes it would leave him alone.

Why was he such a _failure-_

“Tubbo! Jack! He’s right here!” an invisible voice called out.

Right before the spider could finish him off, Tommy heard a metallic clanging noise right in front of him. Removing his arms, Tommy blinked at the sight of Tubbo angrily glaring at the spider as if the mob killed his parents. Tommy’s voice was severely underused, so even if he could find the words he wanted to say to Tubbo he probably couldn’t. Even then, he suddenly felt a pair of warm arms pick him up bridal style.

Looking up, he stared into the bright eyes of Jack, who stared back with a pained expression, “Jesus, dude, you’re almost an ice cube.”

Now that he mentioned it, Tommy _did_ think Jack’s arms felt nice against his chilled skin. He unconsciously snuggled further into his friend’s embrace and chest, electing to ignore the dying mob sounds coming from a few feet away. He felt some feeling coming back into his body because of the heat and dammit, it felt nice. It was nicer than the dumb cots he tried making when he attempted to sleep the first night down here.

Jack held him closer, looking up at his other friends currently keeping various mobs at bay, “Do you need any help before-”

“No, just get him up to Phil, quickly!” Wilbur shouted out and- wait, when did Wilbur get here? Was he the first voice? Regardless, Tommy felt as Jack’s muscles strained and worked to get them back up to the surface. Tommy had the worst bout of luck when he cracked his eyes open right as they breached the top, hissing and pushing his face back into Jack’s shoulder when the first sunray hit his eyes.

Jack saw and tried soothing his weakened friend, “Hey, you’re going to be okay. We just gotta get you home to Niki and Ranboo so they can give you the medical attention you need.”

_Niki and Ranboo, what-_

“Phil!” Jack shouted, interrupting Tommy’s thoughts. “Here! We found him, but he’s in bad shape.”

Tommy suddenly felt himself be shifted out of the warm embrace into a different one. At first, he whined, not wanting to lose the first bit of genuine comfort he had in a while, but when the new arms got a better grip on him Tommy realized the merit in swapping. These arms might not have been as hot as the first pair, but it was strangely softer. As if Tommy was being carried by a blanket of safety.

“Alrighty. Hey there,” Tommy registered the voice as Phil, which must have meant he was the new person carrying him. Tommy was able to crack his eyes open to look at the man since the shade his wings gave off protected him from any more of the sun hurting his eyes. “You’re going to be just fine, Toms, we gotcha. Hold on tight.”

Tommy felt his fingers clutch the front of Phil’s clothes as the elytran took off. Tommy felt bad about this being one of the first times having Phil take him on a flight, but he was also very, very tired. This was also the first time he truly felt safe in a few days, and before he knew it, he yawned satisfactorily. 

He registered Phil trying to speak to him above the wind rushing past them, “Hey, try and stay awake, mate, we’re almost there, I prom…”

But who could deny his brain so desperately screeching for him to shut his eyes to rest after days of trying to and failing horribly? He just hoped Phil wasn’t too upset at him for not listening.

When he reopened his eyes later, he noticed it was nighttime.

Taking a few seconds to re-turn on his brain, he then felt gentle nails brushing themselves through his rat’s nest of a head of hair. He also felt some pain, and he would have sat up in response to it if those same nails didn’t keep him calm and went, “Shhh, you’re okay, Tommy. Ranboo will be here in just a sec with some potions.”

The voice was feminine, so Tommy could conclude that it was indeed Niki behind him making him feel safe. He continued to rest on the soft cot he was placed on when a sudden ender pearl hit the side of the platform everything was seated at, including Niki and Tommy. They watched as Ranboo appeared right after it, holding onto the ledge for dear life before looking at them with a nervous glance, “Heh, sorry, kinda messed up my aim.”

Once Ranboo got up on top completely, he walked over to sit down next to Tommy and pulled a reddish-purple potion out of his pouch before holding it in front of Tommy’s face, “Here ya go, just what the doctor ordered.”

Tommy vaguely registered how Niki helped tilt his head up so he could drink the health potion easier. The way it ran down his throat made him think he was drinking the sweetest and most relaxing tea known to man instead. Before he knew it, the entire thing was downed and Ranboo was pulling out some apples from the same pouch just for Tommy. The blond was still a little in zombie mode, so he took them without question and started munching away.

He got through two and a half before finally coming to his senses. _Wait, I was asleep before this, which means that-_

Looking around, Tommy noticed they were on the top of a wooden tower that made him feel like he could reach up and touch the stars. He turned around to look at Niki in a panic, only to see her resting in a small glass pool of water that created a waterfall that led to the ground below them. She waved at him with a smile, very quickly realizing what Tommy must have been thinking. Flabbergasted at the turn of events, Tommy kept eating his apples at a much slower pace than previously before turning around to look at Ranboo.

The enderian shrugged, “Surprise? I also brought some books for you to read if you want. I wasn’t sure how long you would be forced to be up here so I thought about ways to kill time, and-”

Tommy was finally done eating, and all he could do in response to the sincerity of his friend’s continued rambling was blink. Ranboo suggested just chilling and talking about random things, he even suggested a few card games they could play. Meanwhile, throughout the entire thing was Tommy just sitting and letting the information slowly absorb into his brain as the health potion did its work in fixing him up.

Seriously, they were doing all of _this_ even after Tommy got himself into the mess to begin wi-

“BOO!” a random new voice said, coming from somewhere behind Niki. The merling shrieked in terror, turning around rapidly to watch as Wilbur phased back into existence. “Got you again.”

Tommy watched as Tubbo swam up the waterfall right after Wilbur while Niki laughed. She playfully swatted at the phantom, “Ooooo one of these days I’m going to get you back, I swear on my left fin!”

The two brunettes placed themselves down on the glass rim, sandwiching Niki in Tommy’s point of view. The three got deep in conversation for a few minutes before screaming that was increasing in volume came from behind Ranboo. They all turned around to watch as Philza sped in, nailing the landing with a trembling Jack in his arms, “See, mate, that was fun!”

Jack proceeded to crawl out of his arms like a scared and feral cat would, “Yeah. Fun.”

Philza chuckled, clearly happy with himself, “You know, I can go even faster when I’m flying downward-”

“ _Literally do not._ ”

Everyone laughed at that. Except for Jack, for obvious reasons, and Tommy, who was still trying to wrap his head around the current turn of events. There were very few reasons they would be up here, and considering Ranboo’s rambles from beforehand, Tommy had a pretty good idea which reason was the right one.

Everyone was happily conversing with themselves until they all heard sniffling coming from the youngest of the group. They all swiveled their heads to see Tommy start to silently cry, feeling very bad if they were the reason that it started.

Tubbo figured he would be the best to verbally ask the question they were all wondering, “Tommy? Is everything okay?”

Tommy let out a few laughs through his tears, looking around at everyone with both fondness and confusion, “I’m sorry I’m sorry I just- why are you doing this?”

Everyone collectively glanced at one another after that question. The words they needed to say had to be picked with the utmost care lest they wanted to be at a place worse than square one.

Philza took a deep breath and knelt on the bed next to Tommy, “Because even spots of lights in deep holes can get overwhelmed by the darkness.”

Wilbur piped up next, “Sometimes that darkness needs help to shade from the overbearing light too!”

Tubbo’s grin was huge, “Because those who protect others from mobs-”

“Deserve protecting as well,” Niki finished for the shulk.

Jack figured it was his turn, “And some days the water likes hitting you particularly hard.”

“So all you need is a cover to help you get out,” Ranboo nodded.

Before Tommy could say anything to that, Phil wrapped his arms around the taller boy, bringing his wings with him as a protective shield, “We’re sorry for teasing you at the start of this whole thing. Your powers aren’t useless, and more importantly, _you_ aren’t either. We would be very sad if you weren’t here to help us, both because we like you _and_ because your abilities come in handy.

All Tommy could do to that was bring his arms around the older man and squeeze back, “That’s not really your fault, my brain just likes to overthink a lot.”

Wilbur came over and lightly punched Tommy on the shoulder, “Well, if your brain ever starts beating you up again, let one of us know. We’ll beat it up right back.”

Ranboo made a noise, “Um, maybe not actually though? I think stuff like this works just as well.”

Everyone giggled at the enderian taking Wilbur’s words at face value. The group of friends all sat in silence before Tommy sniffled one last time, breaking away from Phil to wipe the leftover tears off his face, “Jack your analogy sucked.”

The blazeborn sputtered, everyone laughing at the interaction. Glad to see Tommy was still Tommy, even after all that. 

Niki straightened up a little, remembering the thing she and Tubbo came up with, “Oh, Tubbo! Don’t forget about what we made this morning!”

Tommy watched as his best friend took a second to catch onto what Niki was saying, but once he did, he immediately reached into his big inventory to pull out a-

Oh, it was a cake.

Tommy felt like crying again.

Tubbo came up to the bed, Wilbur moving out of the way for the younger brunette, “We all know how you can’t eat meat, but hey, cakes aren’t made with meat, right?”

Tommy sniffled as the sweet pastry was placed in his lap, bright red berries filling his vision with happiness, “If this has any nuts in it I’m throwing it off the tower.”

Everyone laughed once more while the shulk’s laughter was significantly more nervous, “Well, pecans aren’t _really_ nuts, are they?

“... Tubbo-”

“I’m kidding I’m kidding!”

Bonus:

It had been a few days since Tommy’s big rescue and it was the first time he was completely alone.

Don’t get him wrong, he definitely understood his whole worth and knew that everyone loved him and yadda yadda yadda but holy _fuck_ were they Tubbo levels of clingy. At least one person had to be with him at all times while he recovered, which meant at most getting up and sitting on a chair in the kitchen or sitting on the couch in the living area.

And that was booooooooooring. Tommy was ten seconds away from going stir crazy, and now that everyone was off doing other things, Tommy could go outside and stretch his legs for just a second. He wasn’t even going to do anything drastic! The most he would do was get on the roof and jump off of it a few times just to keep his muscles warm.

Peering outside his room to see the coast was clear, Tommy made a speed walk-beeline to the outside door, only to feel something sticky grab his ankle and pull him backward. In fact, it pulled him so much that when he opened his eyes after he finished screaming, he was literally fucking _upside down._ The silky texture of the material that kept him hanging from the ceiling could only be from one person.

Tommy groaned out the most childish groan he could muster, “SCHLAAAAAAAAT.”

Suddenly appearing in front of him was Schlatt dropping from the ceiling upside down as well so he looked right-side-up for Tommy. One pair of arms was on his hips, another was crossed, and the last was behind his back in a soldier-stance, “Yes, Chicken Boy?”

Tommy sputter, his arms and wings flailing despite himself, “Wh- _Chicken Boy?_ I’ll have you know that at the very least I’m a Chicken Man if anything! And- wait, fuck you, I’m getting off-topic, LET ME GO!”

Schlatt made the arms that were originally behind him cross in front of him so he could use the previously crossed arms to pinch the bridge of his nose, the other elbow being used as a perch of sorts for the arm doing the pinching, “Listen, kid, Philza asked me to come and watch the place for a few hours to make sure the resident staying here actually _stayed._ If you wanna be mad at anyone take it up with the old man.”

Tommy squawked indignantly, “That’s bullshit! You know as well as I do that you don’t do anything you don’t want to, not even bribes can make you! So-” Tommy then gasped, a mischievous realization dawning across his face.

Schlatt’s eyebrow twitched as he got off the ceiling, “I don’t need to hear this.”

Schlatt could _feel_ the smug grin boring into his back. Tommy’s giggles were like nails against a chalkboard, “Oooooh, you like me too, don’t you?”

Schlatt started digging through the cabinets to find some sugar to munch on, trying and failing horribly to ignore the winged-nuisance still strung up by his feet, “I had a favor I needed to repay to the elytran. It ain’t that deep, child.”

“Aww, Big Bad Fragrance Man has a soft spot. Didn’t Tubbo mention you helping him get things to decorate his house?”

“Oh shut it.”

**Author's Note:**

> this smp is so fun, guys, there are so many things one can create out of it and that is just *mwah* beautiful
> 
> no beta, so pls let me know if anything egregious pops out at you <3  
> If you wish to scream at me here's my [tumblr](https://halorocks1214.tumblr.com/)


End file.
